VR Films At N.H. Film Festival Explore Climate Change In 360°

The annual New Hampshire Film Festival is happening this weekend in Portsmouth. This year audiences can experience the festival’s first ever virtual reality lounge.

Credit courtesy photo

The New Hampshire Film Festival’s first Virtual Reality Lounge opened Friday in Portsmouth, with four films about climate change.

Dark curtains hung from the walls, dimly lit by black lights. Ten festival-goers took their seats on swivel chairs. They turned in their seats to get a full view of a California wildfire or a desert in Somalia.

The four films, entitled This is Climate Change, create 360° scenes from around the world of disappearing rainforests and melting icebergs.

Nicole Gregg, executive director of the festival, thinks the virtual reality films are particularly powerful with communicating the effects of climate change.

“The second I took my goggles off I wanted to run out and do something. It really puts this issue literally right in front of your face” she said.

Her team set up the space with black lights and neon designs to enhance the experience.

“We really wanted to give people a futuristic environment, because it is so cutting edge and so new,” she said.

Only 10 people can attend each screening. Festival-goers lined up outside today to get a seat. Waiting for their turn, they discussed the future of electric cars and the Granite Bridge pipeline in New Hampshire.

The four day festival features films from everywhere, but organizers say there’s a tradition of recognizing filmmaking in New Hampshire.

"There's never a shortage of material for us when we're looking to program New Hampshire Day,” says NHFF Executive Director Nicole Gregg. “So I would say that's a pretty good indication that it's a pretty active industry here in the state."